Truffle prices surge due to poor harvest

October 30, 2017 by
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Truffles have long been associated with haute cuisine. Brillat-Savarin called truffles "the diamond of the kitchen", and the delicious fungi have graced fine dining menus the world over. Truffles are notoriously finicky to grow, steadfastly resisting attempts to cultivate them. This results in truffle prices being high even in good years - which 2017 is not. Bloomberg reports that white truffles… read more

600 years of cookbook history

October 29, 2017 by
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We are living in a golden age of cookbooks, one where almost everyone can find a book filled with recipes for a reasonable price. It wasn't always like this - centuries ago, only the wealthiest people had cookbooks, which were seen as a status symbol. Henry Notaker traces the history of cookbooks for seven centuries in his book A History of… read more

Potato, potahto

October 28, 2017 by
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  White, red, russet, gold, fingerling - while these are the types of potatoes you will find in most supermarkets, there are actually dozens of varieties. You might see some of the lesser known cultivars at farmers' markets or upscale grocery stores. It's tempting to pick up a bundle of purple potatoes, but then what? We've found a handy guide… read more

Lidia’s American Dream

October 27, 2017 by
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Lidia Bastianich helped create a food empire -  in addition to owning six restaurants with her son, Joe, she is part owner of the New York and Chicago Eataly locations. As if this weren't enough, she has two Emmy Award-winning PBS programs,  Lidia's Italy and Lidia's Kitchen, and several successful cookbooks. While you may already know all of this, you might not know… read more

The Galloping Gourmet’s cookbook is updated and reissued

October 26, 2017 by
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One of the first food television personalities, Graham Kerr figuratively and literally leapt into the public eye in the late 1960s in his television shown called The Galloping Gourmet. Known for his boundless energy, Kerr introduced the world to the idea that watching someone cook could be highly entertaining. Publishing house Rizzoli has updated Kerr's popular cookbook, The Graham Kerr… read more

Over 5,000 video recipes now indexed

October 25, 2017 by
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  A growing category of recipes available on blogs and websites is the video recipe. Sometimes they take the form of a mini-episode of a cooking show; other times they are more focused on specific techniques or methods. A few are made as much for kitsch and fun (I'm looking at you, Metal Kitchen) as they are for serious cooking. … read more

French butter shortage causes consternation

October 24, 2017 by
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  A perfect storm of various trends is causing a butter crisis in France. Increased demand for French baked goods in Asia and other locations, coupled with a reduced European milk supply, has caused a shortage of butter and a resultant spike in prices that shows no sign of abating.  Butter prices in France have increased 60-percent the past year.  Photos… read more

Chef John Besh steps down amidst controversy

October 23, 2017 by
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On Saturday the New Orleans Times-Picayune published a shocking account of sexual harassment allegations against lauded New Orleans chef and restaurateur John Besh. Two days after the story broke, Besh resigned as head of Besh Restaurant Group (BRG), the company he founded. BRG executive Shannon White will assume the duties of chief executive officer. Besh has not said what he will do with… read more

What do you do when you have 30,000 cookbooks?

October 21, 2017 by
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  Many EYB Members have impressive cookbook collections numbering in the hundreds and a few have thousands of cookbooks on their shelves. One man in Berlin puts us all to shame. He has collected over 30,000 cookbooks and did what anyone with that many books would do: he opened a cookbook store.   In the article, we only learn the collector's… read more

Raiding Grandma’s recipe box

October 20, 2017 by
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  If you are a fan of Southern barbecue, you are probably familiar with the side dishes that are must-have accompaniments like baked beans, macaroni and cheese, coleslaw, and potato salad. One North Carolina pitmaster is shaking things up at his popular restaurant. Matt Register, proprietor of Southern Smoke BBQ in the tiny town of Garland, raids his grandmother's recipe… read more

Feeling the absence in the leftovers

October 19, 2017 by
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  When I was growing up, Sunday supper at my grandparents' farm was all but mandatory. Portions were substantial, dessert always provided, and leftovers packaged and sent home to various households. The act of cooking for others - whether it be your own family, for friends, or even for strangers - is entrenched in cultures worldwide.  Food writer Jay Rayner… read more

This chef is tired of over-the-top food

October 18, 2017 by
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When food crazes include rainbows, unicorns, and mash ups of foods, it's safe to say that over-the-top is definitely in style. However, that's no longer the philosophy of Los Angeles chef Kris Yenbangroom, who is set to open his third restaurant. When he first opened his place, called Night+Market, he admits he had a "heavy hand" when it came to… read more

Melissa Clark on how to create the perfect recipe

October 17, 2017 by
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Popular food writer Melissa Clark is no stranger to recipe development. She creates recipes for her column in The New York Times and other publications, plus she's written or co-written nearly 40 cookbooks. In a recent interview with The Cut, she explains her process for creating the perfect recipe.  The first step involves inspiration. Clark says she she sometimes begins with… read more

Cooking for good

October 16, 2017 by
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No doubt you have heard about the devasting fires in northern California, and the dire situation facing the residents of Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria. What you might not have known is that two celebrity chefs have jumped in to help the people affected by those disasters. With all of the bad news being reported in recent weeks, it's heartwarming to… read more

The evolution of the newspaper food section

October 15, 2017 by
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  In today's media saturated age, it can be difficult to imagine a time when there was only one or two sources for information about food and cooking. For decades, however, that was the case. Before there was Instagram, blogs, food television, or even food magazines, the newspaper food column provided the only information most people could get about recipes… read more

Quick action saves M.F.K. Fisher’s former home

October 14, 2017 by
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Few people have had as much impact on food writing as M.F.K. Fisher. Beginning with Serve it Forth, published in 1937, her career as a writer flourished. For the last 20 years of her life, Fisher resided in a home she designed and called "Last House", built in Glen Ellen, California.  The recent devastating wildfires in northern California threatened the… read more

Are recipes dead? Tyler Florence thinks so

October 13, 2017 by
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While attending the Smart Kitchen Summit in Seattle, celebrity chef Tyler Florence made a bold declaration: recipes are dead. Not only did he say that, he proclaimed that our entire approach to making food, from grocery shopping to ingredient preparation to cooking, is outdated.  "Recipes served a purpose back in the day, but inflexible recipes don't work with the modern lifestyle anymore… read more

These cookbooks stand the test of time

October 12, 2017 by
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Cookbooks that sell into the hundreds of thousands are not as rare today as they once were. Fewer cookbooks were published years ago, and there were no Instagram feeds or food blogs saturated with gorgeous photographs to spark a sensation. Nevertheless, a handful of books managed to become huge hits, selling millions of copies over the years. How well have… read more

Artisan and René Redzepi team up for new cookbooks

October 11, 2017 by
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We have just learned that pioneering chef and James Beard award-winning author René Redzepi is partnering with Artisan Books to produce three new cookbooks in late 2018. The first of these books, Foundations of Flavour: The Noma Guide to Fermentation, set to be published in October of next year, is sure to be an thorough guide on the trending topic of fermentation.… read more

Now that’s a sweet hamper

October 10, 2017 by
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Sweet, the cookbook from Yotam Ottolenghi and Helen Goh, is already a sensation. If you have been on the fence about ordering the book, there is something that might push you over the edge: The SWEET Hamper, offered through the Ottolenghi website.  In addition to a signed copy (UK edition) of the cookbook, the hamper includes several ingredients to help… read more

Singing the praises of vodka sauce

October 9, 2017 by
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  With all of the negative news that streams across our news feeds on a daily basis (the latest is a series of devastating fires in the Napa and Sonoma regions of California), some of us find comfort in cooking and baking. A few dishes reign supreme when it comes to comfort food, few things fit the bill better than… read more

Preserving on Paper

October 8, 2017 by
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Cookbook enthusiasts often read vintage cookbooks for entertainment, using them to imagine past ways of cooking and eating. Kristine Kowalchuk also enjoys digging into old cookbooks, although she approaches them from a very different perspective. As part of her Ph.D. thesis at the University of Toronto, Kowalchuk wrote Preserving on Paper, a critical edition of three seventeenth-century 'receipt books'. These handwritten manuals… read more

Christopher Kimball talks recipes and more

October 7, 2017 by
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Last month, Christopher Kimball released his first cookbook post America's Test Kitchen titled Christopher Kimball's Milk Street Kitchen. We've reported before on his acrimonious split with ATK, where litigation is still pending on breach of contract claims. Kimball recently gave an interview to a somewhat unlikely publication, The Washington Free Beacon, known more for its political writing than its food reporting. In the… read more

Modernist Bread aims to change the way we think about baking

October 6, 2017 by
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Dr. Nathan Myhrvold is known as one of the world's foremost authorities on modernist cooking. The former Microsoft chief technology officer studied cooking under renowned chef Anne Willan at the Ecole De La Varenne. He has con­tributed orig­i­nal research on cook­ing sous vide to online culi­nary forums, and his sous vide tech­niques have been cov­ered in magazines and on television. Myhrvold's… read more

A new book by Diana Henry is in the works

October 5, 2017 by
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Diana Henry remains one of the most beloved authors in the EYB Library. Her books reside on thousands of Member Bookshelves, and those who have participated in the "Cooking along with Diana Henry" forum rave about her approachable, exceedingly delicious recipes - and about her stellar writing ability. Her 2015 book A Bird in the Hand  and her most recent Simple:… read more
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